A homeless man who vandalised car park machines - stealing nearly £2,500 in the process - has avoided going to prison.

Charles Bamber admitted a string of criminal damage and theft charges when he appeared at Wycombe Magistrates' Court on June 16.

The 34-year-old had his 18 week jail sentence suspended for two years by magistrates.

He pleaded guilty to six charges of criminal damage, six of theft, one of begging in a public place and one of committing a further offence while subject to a previous conditional discharge order from the courts.

Magistrates were told he stole a cash box containing an unknown amount of money from a car park belonging to Wycombe District Council on May 17, damaging the machine that housed it in the process.

The following day Bamber committed a hat trick of offences, taking cash boxes containing £734, £673.30 and £526.10 from Wycombe District Council car parks and again damaging the machines at the same time.

On May 19 he again damaged council property and stole a cash box containing £365, before completing his crime spree by taking £96 from a ticket machine at High Wycombe station car park. In total he stole £2,394.

As well as being given the suspended prison sentence, Bamber was ordered to pay court and prosecution costs of £260, which he will pay back at the rate of £5 a week.

During the court hearing police applied to magistrates to make Bamber the subject of a Criminal Behaviour Order to stop him from begging in High Wycombe town centre.

The application was refused however, with magistrates stating Bamber is a "passive beggar" and there was "no evidence he is aggressive or that he has played a musical instrument".

Magistrates also stated the Suspended Sentence Order they had just imposed would make a Criminal Behaviour Order unnecessary.